Candles have been used for illumination and for decoration over a period of many years. In recent years, candles are frequently used on cakes for festive occasions such as birthday parties. The applicant is aware of several U.S. patents which are directed toward candles in decorative use. U.S. Pat. No. 1,714,614 to King discloses a candle decoration formed by having a wax body molded in the shape of letters, figures and the like with a plurality of wicks embedded in the body so that the wicks can be lighted individually. A multiple wick candle in a single body is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,310,019 to Hamblet. U.S. Pat. No. 2,196,509 to Turner discloses a multiple candle structure presenting trunk and branch portions enclosing wicks and merging and separating so as to burn progressively with a variable number of flames. The wicks are interconnected so that the branches are mounted on a circular holder and together, comprise an annular ring having twelve points of initial ignition. As the candle burns down, it will burn with a series of twenty-four flames. A segmented candle having a plurality of wax segments disposed in a spaced relation along a continuous wick is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,606 to Hicks. U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,674 to Gross discloses a candle, wherein an embedded wick has a memory so that as it burns, the wick can assume many different arrangements. Abbott et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,663 disclose a liquid fuel consuming apparatus having wicks in a plurality of openings which are connected to a reservoir of fuel to provide a candle-like flame. U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,455 to Barfus and U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,688 to Wexler each disclose a cover for a cake to hold a plurality of candles.
Thus, there has been much interest in having a plurality of candles which can be ignited and displayed in a desired pattern. However, none of the known candles or devices have an ignitor which permits individual candles to be arranged in any desired pattern and ignited in sequence by the interconnecting ignitor.